Captured by a Laird (17 page)

“I love your headdresses,” he murmured between kisses.

She laughed and leaned back. “They’re so plain. How can you like them?”

“They’re easy to remove.”

She laughed again, a sound that somehow made him feel lighter. This was going far better than he expected after the way she had run off earlier. He kissed the side of her neck and the sweet spot below her ear as he loosened her braid. When he had it undone, he buried his fingers in her thick hair and breathed in her scent.

He captured her mouth again and began unfastening the hooks at the back of her gown. Their kisses grew deeper, their tongues moved together in a rhythm suggestive of what would come later. Aye, surely it would this time. He reminded himself to go slowly, to savor every moment and every touch along the way. Their first time joining as man and wife would happen but once, and he wanted to make it memorable.

He covered her breast and groaned at the sensation of the soft flesh filling his hand. Unable to help himself, he pulled her against his throbbing shaft. God in heaven, she felt good.

She made a startled, high-pitched sound when he gave into another urge and dropped to his knees to press his face between her breasts. He paused to revel in this slice of heaven before wrapping his arms around her hips and lifting her up as he stood.

“What are ye doing?” she squealed.

“I’m carrying ye to the bed,” he said, “where I’m going to pleasure ye until you’re begging for me to take ye.”

And I’ll do it again night after night until you’re so pleased to share my bed that you’re content to be my wife, despite who I am, despite the wrongs I’ve done to you, and despite what I can never give you.

He would never say these things to her, of course. Alison must never know it had become important to him that she not regret becoming his wife.

That she not despise him.

He laid her down on the bed and kissed her until they were both senseless. When he slipped her loosened gown off, she lifted her hips to ease his way. Aye, she wanted him this time.

Her nipples were hard, rosy peaks, and her breathing grew ragged as he brought his fingers in slow circles up the inside of her thigh. He groaned when he found how hot and wet she was for him. She closed her eyes, concentrating on the movement of his hand. As he watched her face and soft parted lips, he swallowed against a surge of emotion. She had never been more beautiful, more desirable.
And she is mine.

He felt drunk on her scent, and the little sounds she made sent bolts of desire shooting through him. He wanted her more than he had ever wanted any woman before.

In a thrice, he shed his clothes. He thought he would die of pleasure when he covered her and felt her bare skin against his. Leaning on his elbows, he eased her legs apart with his knee. He bit his lip against the rush of sensation as his cock rubbed against her silky inner thigh. Ach, he needed to be inside her now, to feel her liquid heat around him.
Now.

“Say ye want me,” he said against her ear, unable to keep the desperation from his voice. She had to say aye.

“Nay.”

Why? What in God’s name was she waiting for? He had told her he would wait to consummate their marriage until she was willing, but she did desire him. Her body did not lie.

“Not this.” She lifted her hand and rested her palm against his cheek. “Not yet.”

He was choking with frustration, but he told himself that
not yet
meant
soon
.

And
not this
, meant everything else was fair game… He smiled to himself. Nay, she would not hold out long.

CHAPTER 20

Alison could barely draw breath under David’s dark, lustful gaze, which promised sinful pleasures beyond her ken. She was acutely aware of every inch of his long, muscular body that touched hers, from where his chest brushed the sensitive tips of her breasts, to his hard, flat stomach flush against hers, to his muscular legs stretched along the length of hers.

Her attention focused on his hard shaft between her legs, one tantalizing inch from where he had brought her such pleasure with his hand. Her body throbbed there, and she wanted to pull on his shoulders and urge him forward.

She forced herself to remember why she had made her resolution and what she needed from him after their lust was spent. Blackadder had shattered her pride and self-respect, and she wanted them back even more than she wanted Wedderburn right now.

“Not yet, David,” she said again.

They both gasped when he moved forward and pressed his erection against her. Despite all her intentions,
aye
was on her lips when he covered her mouth with his and rolled to the side.

He began working his magic with his fingers.
Heaven help her.
She was unable to think of anything except the sensations coursing through her body. This time, as the tension built inside her, she knew what it was leading to, and her anticipation only served to intensify the blinding burst of pleasure when it came.

She was sprawled loose-limbed on the bed, trying to catch her breath when David began kissing his way slowly down her body. As he moved lower, his lips and tongue trailing over her hip and abdomen, a prickle of unease ran through her. Her disquiet grew when he settled between her legs. Her body was still so sensitive that she twitched when he kissed the inside of her thigh.

Good heavens, what was he doing now? She rose up onto her elbows and confirmed that he was, in fact, running his tongue over that most sensitive spot between her legs. She was so shocked that she could not find her voice.

He looked up and gave her a wicked smile that made her nipples harden and sent tingles all the way to her toes and back again.

“Trust me, lass,” he said. “You’ll like this even more.”

As it turned out, he was right.

***

When Alison came in spasms that shook her body and made her cry out, David’s entire body tightened and pulsed, demanding his own release. He wanted to be inside her with every fiber of his being. Yet pride and something else he could not name required that she want that too. He needed to feel her pull on his shoulders, to lift her hips, to lock her legs around him.

He needed to hear her say the words.
I want you, David.

Would she ever?

He moaned as his body moved of its own accord, thrusting his erection against her side.

She trailed her fingertips down his chest, her light touches igniting sparks, and said, “Let me.”

He gasped when she wrapped her fingers around his throbbing cock. This was not what he hoped for, but it did feel good. Exceedingly so. And he was beyond ready. He gritted his teeth to prolong the pleasure as long as he could.

Though she was inexperienced with receiving pleasure, she had clearly done this before. He kissed her hard on the mouth to keep himself from thinking about how she had gained her expertise.

He bit back her name and buried his face in her hair as he came in an explosion of pleasure.

But afterward, as Alison lay in his arms, he tortured himself with thoughts of her pleasuring Blackadder with her hand. And, far worse, letting that foul man do what she denied him. He stared at the ceiling while the black thoughts swirled in his head.

She had disliked Blackadder—or at least she professed to—so perhaps she had taken a lover. She would never choose a man like him, the Beast of Wedderburn. Nay, if Alison took a lover, he would be a courtier dressed in brocade and velvet who flattered her with flowery poetry and strummed on a goddamned harp.

David clenched his teeth until his jaw ached.

“If ye ever let another man touch ye again,” he said, “I’ll kill him.”

***

Wedderburn’s harsh words cut through Alison’s languid drowsiness like a sword. She rolled away from him and out of the bed. How could he say such a thing to her?

“You insult me,” she said, clenching her hands. “I welcome no man’s touch—though I must tolerate yours.”

He leaned back on his elbows and let his gaze travel over her. Suddenly aware that she was stark naked, she snatched her night shift from the floor and jerked it over her head.

“I’d say ye more than tolerated my touch,” he said with a smirk on his handsome face that made her want to slap him. “’Tis only right that I give ye fair warning I won’t tolerate another man so we can avoid unnecessary bloodshed. Ye know how killing troubles me.”

The wretched man actually winked when he said this.

“I am not free with my favors,” she said, glaring at him. “I’ve given ye no cause to suggest it.”

“A man who trusts easily doesn’t place sufficient value on his pride or his life,” he said with a shrug, “and he’s bound to lose one or both.”

“Hmmph.” She folded her arms and turned her head.

“Trust, like forgiveness, must be earned.”

“Well then,” she said, “you’ve yet to earn either from me.”

Alison never would have risked speaking with such insolence to Blackadder, and she had no notion why she had the nerve to do it now. It was not as if David’s accusation of immoral behavior was worse than Blackadder telling her she was inept and weak-minded. And yet David’s insult had set a fire under her.

His eyes held a dangerous glitter as he got out of bed and came toward her. Standing her ground was not easy, but she did.

“Ye can be damned irritating when ye let your spirit show.” He cupped her neck, preventing her escape, and leaned down until she felt his breath on her face. “But I find it verra appealing.”

She barely had time to realize he was not angry with her before he pulled her into a fiery kiss that made her head spin and her knees weak.

CHAPTER 21

Alison awoke encircled in David’s arms, snuggled closer, and let her eyes drift shut again.

Another night like last night and she feared she would not be able to hold out. She had been powerless for so many years in her marriage to Blackadder that she clung to this bit of control that her new husband had granted her over her body.

The joining had been the very worst part with Blackadder. She had loathed it so much that she had learned to divert him with her hand and mouth. Though she was still a wee bit fearful, she expected it to be different with David—so different that she found herself looking forward to it rather fervently.

The man had sensual weapons that he wielded with as much skill as he did his weapons of war. Nothing had prepared her for this. While her body’s responses were thrilling, the emotions they stirred overwhelmed and frightened her.

Each time, she felt as if she revealed a secret part of herself that left her vulnerable in a way that she had never been with Blackadder. And, as satisfying as the sexual release was, she was left with a hollow feeling, as if she had a hole in her heart, a void that cried out to be filled.

Love was a girlish notion that she and her sisters had spoken of for hours on end when they were young and foolish. She did not hope for love, but she wished she could have the sort of marriage her parents had. She remembered how they shared their burdens, how her father sought her mother’s counsel on important matters.

She sighed to herself. The prospect of having that sort of marriage with Wedderburn seemed unlikely. Outside the bedchamber, he spoke little to her, beyond a few banal words at meals. When he saw her about the castle, he followed her with his eyes, his desire fairly scorching her skin. As much as that excited her, she’d come to the conclusion that he desired her that much precisely because she denied him.

Once she gave in she would lose the only leverage she had to draw him closer.

She sighed as David slid his hand along her side, a simple gesture that twisted her heartstrings. In truth, it would take so little for him to persuade her.

***

Damn, she was a stubborn woman.

Three more days had passed and still Alison resisted the inevitable, just as she had when he laid siege to the castle. David watched her sleep in the dawn light slanting through the narrow window. One would never guess that such a sweet face hid an iron will. He kissed her forehead, careful not to wake her.

Each time they were in bed, he felt closer to his goal. And each time something caused her to retreat. Usually he had no notion what he had done or said that led her to hold back.

For a man who had never had to work to win over a lass, it was a humbling experience.

But Alison did want him. He could tell that from her sighs and moans, the way she clung to him, the desire in her eyes. She had her reasons for making him wait—for making them both wait. He just needed to overcome them.

It had become almost a game between them, one that was both frustrating and tantalizing. Alison satisfied his physical need with her hand or,
dear God
, her mouth. And yet he never felt satisfied. He wanted to make her his, utterly and completely. He found it difficult to think of anything else.

She was weakening. They both knew she could not resist much longer. Once she finally gave herself to him, he would lose this constant, raging desire and be himself again. In a way, he would miss the heart-stopping anticipation. After imagining it so often, the simple act of sexual congress could never meet his expectations.

He twined a silky strand of Alison’s midnight hair around his finger and tried to quell his unease about leaving her. Cochburn had sent word that he was ready to lay siege to his nephew’s castle. The wiser course would have been for David to consummate the marriage at once—and repeat the act as often as he could. The sooner Alison conceived, the better.

Many a marriage had been annulled at the behest of a well-connected family who claimed, rightly or wrongly, that the marriage had not been consummated. Once Alison carried his child, however, she would be good and truly bound to him in the eyes of the world—and in hers.

The realization that this was the reason she continued to resist him hit him like a fist to the chest. Ach, he was a fool. Alison still hoped to escape the marriage. Why else would she allow him to pleasure her in every way but the one that led to conception?